96 SEVENTH REPORT—1837. 
On the Bituminous Coal Field of Pennsylvania. By HARDMAN 
PHILLIPS. 
This coal field is situated on the western slope of the Alleghany 
mountains. It commences in Tioga county and thence extends in a 
south-westerly direction to, and even beyond, the Ohio river, embracing 
a space of about 200 miles in length, and 30 in breadth. The coal is 
usually found above the level of the waters, running through every 
secondary hill in two, three, or four strata, according to the height of 
the hill, the veins being usually 4ft. 2in., 6ft., or 9ft. thick. There is 
great variety in the quality of the coal, that found near the centre of 
the field being decidedly the best. The lowest vein in that district is 
of very superior quality, much resembling the Newcastle coal, but 
still more friable, and contains more bitumen. Its specific gravity is 
1-279. An analysis of this coal made by Walter R. Johnson, Professor 
of Geology, Mineralogy and Chemistry in the Franklin Institute of 
Philadelphia, afforded 224 per cent. of volatile matter. Other veins 
are harder and heavier. The coal of this field is used in Pittsburg 
and Cewhe county for rolling iron, but not for smelting ores. On 
that subject, Professor Johnson, in a letter which Mr. H. Phillips has 
received from him since he has been in England, says,— 
«“ The manufacturers along the Little Imiata are looking with much 
interest to the completion of their railroad, so that they may receive 
the coal for their various works, smelting furnaces as well as forges, 
some of which (the Union works for example) are now hauling char- 
coal 10 and 12 miles, accompanied with great expense and vexation. 
They are determined to try coke as soon as it can be obtained. In 
that part of Huntingdon county, where charcoal is becoming so scarce, 
there is the greatest abundance I have any where encountered of rich 
iron ore (the brown hydrate). In some places I saw them raising it 
in open quarries, blasting it with gunpowder, from beds varying from 
5 to 30 feet in thickness, of nearly pure ore ; and though all which I 
visited were not so rich as that to which I have just referred, yet I no 
where in this part of Huntingdon county heard any intimation of a 
lack of that material.” 
The mode of digging the coal is very simple. As the lowest stra- 
tum lies above the surface of the valley, it is only necessary to open 
the vein, run level drifts into the hills and take the coal out on tempo- 
rary railways. The general dip is very slight, only about one inch in 
a yard; but at the north-eastern extremity in Tioga county, and gene- 
rally near the summit of the Alleghany mountains, the measures sud- - 
denly crop out an angle of about 30° from a horizontal line. The 
coal is accompanied by the usual deposits of fire clay and grey lime- 
stone in nodules, the former in veins of 18 inches, and the latter 6 
inches in thickness. 
In addition to the papers read, Dr. Jeffreys submitted to the Section 
a collection of bones and teeth, including those of rats, cats, sheep, 
